


Unspoken Words

by firnae



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Minor Spoilers, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 09:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3564278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firnae/pseuds/firnae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The words hung and echoed in the stillness of the dark room. Oh no. Maker, what had she <i>done</i>?"</p>
<p>After three years, Althea Hawke has something she wants to say to Fenris.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unspoken Words

**Author's Note:**

> Minor spoilers for the Fenris romance.

            Althea Hawke could not sleep. There were too many thoughts rushing through her mind in order to relax and dream. She opened her eyes. The dying light from the embers in the fireplace cast long, ghostly shadows across the ceiling of the room in the dilapidated mansion. Althea shifted slightly and felt Fenris’s embrace tighten around her in return.

              _Three years_.

            Althea could not believe that it had three years since they last… she sighed. It had felt much, much longer.

            After the first year, she had begun to accept that Fenris might not come back. And as much as it saddened her, she had tried her hardest to move on.

            She couldn’t. She could never move on. Not from him.

            And yet, here she was. After years of putting on a brave face every time he walked into the room, every time she and Fenris worked together on one mission or another, Althea was finally back where she wanted to be.

            But she felt restless.

            So many thoughts raced through her mind, and three years’ worth of repressed emotions threatened to escape. Althea rolled over to face Fenris, whose own face was a mere inch from her own in the small bed. And his eyes were wide open. He could not sleep either.

            Fenris gave her that lazy half-smile that she loved so much and it set her heart all aflutter. He moved his hand from where it rested on her side to tuck a piece of her choppy, dark red hair back behind her ear. Althea closed her eyes. The way she felt when she was with him… _Maker_ , no one had ever come close to that before. And if anything, it made the disquiet in her mind even worse.

            She couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to do something, say something, _anything_ —

            “I love you, Fenris.”

            Fenris froze. The words hung and echoed in the stillness of the dark room.

            Oh no. Maker, what had she _done_?

            Fenris just stared at Althea with an unreadable expression, and Althea stared back, surprise and embarrassment finally halting her thoughts for a brief moment.

            Fenris sat up in the bed. Althea just covered her face with her hands and groaned.

            Three years of waiting, hoping it had been enough time for Fenris to heal, and she had gone and ruined it all. And just as well—everything she touched seemed to break anyway. It was bound to happen with him.

            She needed to say something. Anything. She couldn’t just leave it like this. Althea sat up next to him.

            “Fenris, I’m sorry I—I didn’t mean to… okay I did mean it, but…” _Maker’s breath_. Of all the times to stumble over her words, this was _not_ one of them. “I just—what I mean to say is…” Althea dropped her head back into her hands and groaned again, thoroughly embarrassed. She drew her knees up to her chest, wishing she could just hide from it all.

            “Hawke.”

            Fenris’s gravelly voice broke the silence. Althea looked up to see the elf looking at her with such emotion—a stark contrast to his unreadable expression from before.

            “I’m sorry,” Althea said again, quietly. “I know you… you don’t have to say it back. If you want me to leave I can just—”

            Fenris placed a hand on her face.

            “Althea,” he whispered. He didn’t say anything else. Instead, gently tilting her head upward towards his, he kissed her.

            Althea’s mind finally stopped racing as she leaned into him, the kiss evolving from a soft, simple gesture into one more forceful and passionate. Her heart pumped wildly in her chest as she wrapped her arms around the elf, threading her fingers through his hair and deepening the kiss.

            He was still there. Althea thought for sure she had ruined everything. And yet…

            Any doubts that had crossed her mind were erased, and all that was left was a profound sense of knowing. She now knew that whatever came, however terrible, they would make it. And despite her fear and her doubts, she knew Fenris felt the same way. She felt it in the way he held her—sure, strong, unyielding.

            And it was then, Althea realized, that some things didn’t need to be said.


End file.
